


The New Girl in Class

by USDA_unofficial



Category: Real Person Fiction
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-23
Updated: 2018-01-23
Packaged: 2019-03-08 11:36:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 2,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13457418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/USDA_unofficial/pseuds/USDA_unofficial
Summary: When a mysterious, British new girl shows up in average sixth grader Toby's class, his life will never be the same!





	1. The New Girl

**Author's Note:**

  * For [absternr](https://archiveofourown.org/users/absternr/gifts).



BZZAHH BZZAHH BZZAHH! blared my alarm. I rolled over to turn it off and leapt out of bed.

Today was the first day of sixth grade at my new middle school and I was ready. I knew it was important to make a big first impression so I threw on the clothes I’d laid out the night before: a new yellow Tommy Hilfiger polo, Levi’s 501 jeans, and Sketchers sneakers. Glancing over at my mirror, I checked my hair then grabbed my backpack and ran downstairs.

“Slow down!” cried my mom as I wolfed down a piece of toast and guzzled a glass of OJ.

“Sorry mom!” I yelled, already halfway out the door.

My first class was English with Ms. Fujihata. I strolled down the rows until I found my seat and then said hi to my friends Dylan, Owen, and Mark.

“Did you have a good summer?” I asked.

“Yeah,” they replied.

“Please settle down, class,” said Ms. Fujihata. The room fell silent.

I noticed that the desk next to mine was empty. That was weird; usually, someone sat in it.

About halfway through our lesson about participles in _The Giver_ , Ms. Fujihata turned to us.

“Class, I have an announcement,” she told us. “We have a new student today. Please welcome V.”

We all turned to look at the door as it opened. In stepped the most beautiful girl who had ever been in the sixth grade.

She was tall, taller than most of the girls in my class. She wore a pale blue blazer and a gray scarf, wrapped twice around her neck. Her long hair was done up into a bun at the back of her head, secured into place with a black scrunchy.

Immediately, I was enraptured.

She took the seat next to mine. I guess she noticed me gawking at her because she turned.

“Hi, I’m Toby,” I said, introducing myself.

“It’s nice to meet you,” she replied. “I’m V.” I almost couldn’t believe my ears. Not only was she beautiful, but she also had a British accent.

I couldn’t help myself: “Can I ask you a question?” I asked.

“Okay,” she responded.

“Does V stand for anything?”

“Yes,” she replied but before I could ask her any more, Ms. Fujihata called the class to order.

When class was over, I turned to find V but she must have already packed her things and left.

“What’d you think of the new girl?” I asked my friends. They only nodded.

I looked for her throughout the rest of the day but we didn’t seem to have any more classes together. I even stood around at the front doors at the end of the day to see if I could see her leaving but I didn’t manage to.

Dejected, I got out my bike and mounted it, ready to ride home.

“Hey Toby!” someone called from behind me. Thinking it was V, I turned, excited.

It was just Addison, who had been in my fifth grade homeroom last year.

“What’s up, Addison?” I asked.

“I just wanted to say that I like your polo shirt. Is it a Tommy Hilfiger?”

“Yeah,” I replied.

“Nice. Hey, did you understand what Ms. Fujihata was saying about participles in _The Giver_? I was having trouble understanding. Maybe you could help me sometime?”

“Maybe,” I shrugged, but for now, I had other issues on my mind. Other issues like who was that mysterious girl in my English class?


	2. A Discovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A web search changes everything!

When I got home, I climbed into my computer chair and pulled up the search engine. I began to type “New girl middle school V” but there were zero results.

I tried another search: “V new girl middle school”. Still nothing.

Exasperated, I tried one last thing: “middle school V new girl”.

Eureka! One result. I clicked the link.

A headshot popped up in tasteful black and white. It was her! The new girl! I scrolled down the page to find out more.

_Born in London, she has appeared in hundreds of movies, television shows, and stage plays, garnering six Academy Award nominations and winning one for her turn in as the titular character in Fred Zinnermann’s_ Julia.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. I scrolled down further.

_This esteemed actress’s name? Vanessa Redgrave._

I let out a gasp that I’m pretty sure could be heard two states over.


	3. Coming Clean

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toby pops a question!

I hadn’t told anybody what I knew about V but I was dying with curiosity. When I got to Mrs. Fujihata’s class the next day and saw that she wasn’t there yet, I half expected that I’d imagined the whole thing yesterday. I mean, could it really be true? Was I really classmates with esteemed actress Vanessa Redgrave?

Exactly one minute before class began, V strolled down the row and sat down next to me.

“Okay, class. Today, we’re going to be learning about interjections. Please turn to page 107 of _Hatchet_.”

“Psst,” I whispered to V as I turned to her.

“What is it?” she asked.

“V… I don’t know how to ask you this…” I gulped then blurted quietly, “V… are you Vanessa Redgrave?”

A shifty look crossed her face and she moved back and forth in her seat uncomfortably. She looked around to see if anyone else in the class had heard what I’d said. Finally, she turned back to me and in a voice so soft that I almost couldn’t hear it, replied, “Yes, that’s right.”

I knew it. At the same time, a new storm of questions erupted in my mind and I knew I had to find out more.

“But why around you in sixth grade? Aren’t you a highly regarded actress well past middle school age?”

She looked at me with sadness in her eyes.

“Toby!” Oh rats! I’d been caught talking during Ms. Fujihata’s lesson. “Go to the principal’s office!”

I gathered my things and stood up. V gazed at me and as I walked out of the room, I saw her hold up a piece of paper that read “Meet me at the tree. Recess!”

I trudged to the principal’s office with a newfound pep.


	4. The Tree

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> V finally comes clean to Toby at The Tree.

After fourth period, it was recess. I picked up a lunch tray and headed outside. The weather was nice and a cool breeze blew. I shivered.

“Hey Toby!” It was Dylan, Owen, and Mark. “Want to come eat with us?”

“No thanks!” I shouted to them. I had questions that needed answering, and the pursuit of truth was more important than any friend I’d ever have.

I walked towards The Tree, a gnarled old elm at the corner of the schoolyard. As I neared, I heard Addison’s voice calling my name.

“What is it, Addison?” I said turning.

“Hey Toby. Any chance you want to go over interjections with me later?”

I shook my head. “Sorry, Addison, but interjections aren’t that hard.” And then I walked on.

V was sitting under The Tree eating a tuna salad sandwich on a pumpernickel bagel. She looked up when I arrived and I joined her on the ground.

“I’m sorry I got you sent to the principal’s office,” she said, biting into her bagel.

“It’s alright. Whenever I get sent to the principal’s, I just go hide in the bathroom for 45 minutes and think about what I did. But that’s not important.” I picked up the pepperoni pizza from my lunch tray, folded it, and ate about half the slice in one bite. “What I want to know is what you, Academy Award-winning actress and mother of three Vanessa Redgrave, are doing in sixth grade!”

She swallowed her bite and looked at me. “There was a fluke. At the education department, in England, where I’m from. Apparently someone dumped a bunch of academic records into the Atlantic Ocean by accident, mine included, and when I went back to school the next year, nobody could remember, or I guess they didn’t want to admit that they couldn’t remember which year I was supposed to be in, so someone told me to go to Miss Schofield’s class and I just did and it wasn’t until two weeks in that I realized it was a seventh grade classroom and I was learning seventh grade material at a sixth grade age. In effect, I skipped a year and nobody noticed. I suppose that’s why I always seem a year younger than I really am. How old would you guess I am?”

Not skipping a beat, I whispered “78.”

She shook her head. “79,” she replied.

I was baffled. 79? It couldn’t be. She didn’t look a day of it.

Something occurred to me. “But why come back now?” I asked. “You said nobody noticed the error. What changed?”

“I should have said that nobody noticed _until_ now. My agent was looking over my records and made the discovery that not only had I never completed sixth grade but I’d never even begun it! And because of that, my middle school experience is incomplete, meaning I should never have entered secondary school, meaning I should never have attended the Central School of Speech and Drama or gone on to have a successful career!”

“So you’ve been living a lie?”

“Precisely! And I didn’t even know it! All this time, I’ve never mastered pre-pre-algebra or used George Orwell’s _Animal Farm_ to discuss the concept of allegory or read anything by Lois Lowry. So that’s why I’m here. I need to graduate from sixth grade so I can return to my real life!” A single tear filled her eyes.

“Hey, don’t worry,” I reassured her, feeling more confident that I actually was. “You’re gonna be okay because you’re not in this alone.”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“I… I’m gonna help you get through sixth grade, V.” I paused, then added, “Or… should I call you… Vanessa Redgrave?”

A smile dawned upon her stately face and I couldn’t help smiling a little too.


	5. Makeovers and Do-overs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It continues!

It was Wednesday when Vanessa called me. My phone lit up with a picture of her as Mary Debenham in _Murder on the Orient Express_. I picked up after the second ring.

“Hey Toby. I was wondering if I could come over to your place and you could talk me through how to succeed in sixth grade.”

“Sure thing, Vanessa,” I responded cooly. 

“Great,” she replied. “I’ll be over in fifteen minutes.”

As soon as I threw my phone down on my bed, it rang again. This time it was Addison.

“Hey Toby. Who’s that girl you’re suddenly hanging out with a lot?”

“Oh hey Addison,” I responded. She was onto me, that much I knew, and I had to get her off my tail. I tried stalling. “I have to go.”

“Not without telling me about this new girl,” she said, and I detected a hint of curiosity and anger mixed with an ounce of jealousy and fear in her voice.

“Fine,” I replied. “Her name is V Bluetomb and she’s an exchange student from Kiribati.”

“Oh okay,” said Addison, all tension in her voice released. “That makes sense.”

I hung up and wiped the beads of sweat from my brow. _Phew. That had been closer than I’d expected._ Thankfully, I had come up with a convincing lie on the fly, but it would only be a matter of time until Addison got suspicious again. I couldn’t keep coming up with stories forever which meant that Vanessa was going to have to graduate sixth grade–and fast!

Ding dong! came the ring of the doorbell. That must be Vanessa. Had it really been fifteen minutes already?

My mom answered the door. "Hello, Mrs. S. Is Toby around?"

"I think he's upstairs," I heard my mom say in that voice that only moms have.

"Thanks!" she replied, then I heard her footsteps racing up the stairs. It was only then that I realized I was completely naked, save for my Hanes boxer shorts. I scurried to my closet and threw on the first things I could find: a Lacoste polo, Ralph Lauren khakis, and Converse All-stars.

I turned around to see Vanessa stepping into the room. Just in time!

"Hey Toby," she said, and I thought I saw her look me up and down for a microsecond before turning her eyes back to my face. "That's a really nice outfit."

"Thanks V. I mean, Vanessa. Sorry. I got so used to calling you V that I sometimes forget you're really Vanessa Redgrave," I sputtered.

"It's okay. When I'm in a role, back in my other life, I can get so caught up in being a character that sometimes I forget too." We both had a good laugh at that one.

"Listen, Vanessa, there's something I have to tell you," I told her. "I think some of the kids at school are starting to get suspicious about you."

Vanessa gasped. It was the first time I think I'd seen her afraid since we met. 

"But don't worry," I continued, my voice firm. "I have a plan. Remember, I promised to help you get through sixth grade and I'm gonna keep that promise. But you don't totally seem like a sixth grader...not yet."

"What more could I do?" she asked me, eyes wide. "I already bought a Trapper-Keeper and downloaded Sean Kingston's entire oeuvre."

"Haha, on fleek," I responded, "but you're gonna need a makeover!"

***

An hour later, Vanessa strolled down the stairs, passing by my mom who stared at her, eyes agape. Vanessa didn't even look at her. After she left, my mom turned to me.

"Hey Toby, I have to ask you because I'm your mother and I care: who was that beautiful girl who just left our house?"

A sleek smile spread across my face. "Oh, her? Just a friend. From school."

Little did my mother know that clutched behind my back were hundreds of dollars worth of eyeliner, mascara, rouge, lipstick, concealer, blush, and other cosmetics. Now, Vanessa looked exactly like any other sixth grader, albeit far more beautiful. Now, all she had to do was act the part...and she was Oscar-winner Vanessa Redgrave so I wasn't really worried.


	6. The Next Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are happening for Toby and V!

It was the next day and I got to school early so I could take my seat in Ms. Fujihata's class. I knew we were studying pluperfect verbs in _The Westing Game_ , so I'd read ahead to increase my comprehension and be ready for today's lesson.

A girl sat down next to me in Vanessa's desk.

"Hey, sorry," I told her, "but that's V's seat."

"Hey Toby," said a familiar voice. I turned to look at her and did a double take when I realized that this girl next to me was Vanessa. I'd done such a good job on her makeover that even I didn't recognize her because she looked just like any other student in the sixth grade. Sure, if you looked closely, you could tell she had an elegance and grace beyond her years but otherwise she was just another sixth grader.

"Vanessa!" I whispered under my breath. "I did such a good job!"

"Thanks," she replied with a coy smile. "And by the way, are those new Adidas running shoes?"

"Nope," I chuckled. She may have looked like an ordinary sixth grader but how could she have known that I was wearing Pumas today? We were from totally different worlds, she and I.

After class, Vanessa packed up her things in her Trapper-Keeper and left. "I'll meet you at The Tree at lunch!" she shouted as she jetted from the room.

Before I had a chance to get up, Dylan, Owen, and Mark walked over to me.

"Hey Toby," they said.

"What's up?" I asked.

"We haven't hung out in a while. Do you want to come over after school and play some Madden or another sports game?"

"Maybe," I replied but to tell the truth my mind was elsewhere. It was already at The Tree with Vanessa, eating a piping warm slice of that good, good pizza.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More to come if God wills it!


End file.
